Bentley Continental GT: the car that saved the company
You
will likely never have heard of Hans-Joachim Rotherpieler, but if you
want an idea of just how bad things were at Bentley at the time
Volkswagen bought it in 1998, he provides a rare and useful insight.
He was the man VW parachuted into Crewe to look after quality and production. I once asked him for his impressions after his first factory tour, and his words did not need interpretation: “I thought we should close the place down.”
He was the man VW parachuted into Crewe to look after quality and production. I once asked him for his impressions after his first factory tour, and his words did not need interpretation: “I thought we should close the place down.”
Of
course I could be writing this piece about the 1982 Bentley Mulsanne
Turbo, the first Bentley in years to be anything other than a
badge-engineered Rolls-Royce. That car turned around Bentley's fortunes
so dramatically that by the time VW stepped forward, the firm was
outselling Rolls by ten to one.
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